this Saturday and achieve fame, fortune, the accolades of my peers . . . and my true goal, an NQT. I need a 2:03.
50 PR is 24.79
100 PR is 55.46, split 26.55 28.91
200 PR is 2:04.24, split 30.31 31.50 31.44 30.99
I took that out too slow, but I've been gun-shy after this debacle:
2:06.86, split 29.06 30.79 33.15 33.86
I consoled myself by blaming that race on the altitude (we were at 3,000 or so and I swim at sea level), but it still hurts to look at.
I think the best 200 I ever split was SCM a year and a half ago:
2:19.90, split 33.17 35.46 35.49 35.78
I'm thinking that I need to be just under 1:00 for the 100 and bring it home from there? Can I even get to a 2:03 from my 50/100 times?
Thanks for the help.
My question is: what is a good training set/strategy/programme to reduce the differences in split times?
I am by no means an expert, but I have been swimming repeat 200's at practice by treating the first 100 as a pull (both with and without a pull buoy). The second 100, I kick fairly vigorously. My practice times have been coming down without increasing fatigue. I am going to continue this practice over the long haul. I hope to test it out within a month at a meet to see if I can lower my times.
I will also follow the same race strategy (only kicking in earnest for the last 75-100 yards).
I'd have to say I don't agree with the "pulling the first half" argument. Remember, you don't want to intentionally go slow on the first half. Rather, you want to go fast on the second half. To swim a 200 fast you can't really hold back. You really need to take it out within a few seconds of your fastest 100 time and then have the conditioning to be able to hold on.
Try doing negative splitting and build swims in practice, but remember to concentrate on swimming fast on the back half rather than holding back a little on the front half.
This certainly holds true for me, but I am willing to accept that it might not be the way for everyone to go. I have found, consistently, that if I go out hard in the first half of race, my overall time improves. It doesn't matter if it is the first 25 of a 50, the first 50 of a 100 or the first 100 of a 200. Even if my arms feel numb and I have no legs, my times are, invariably, better. Every time I think I should 'hold out' or go for 'easy speed' in the first half of the race my times disappoint.
I have always considered myself a sprinter but recently I have been really enjoying doing 200's in practice. I want to have a crack at it this year in competition. Having read through this thread though, I think my splits are way off.
Today I did a set of 5 x 200 (SCM) at 3:30, descending. On the first I went 2:29, then 2:26, 2:23, 2:20 and the last I did in 2:17. I hardly ever take my splits but today I did for the last two. I split the second last 1:08/1:12 and the last 1:06/1:11.
After reading GoodSmith's comment that you shouldn't have more than a 3 second difference between your first and second hundred I realise I have a way to go.
There is a lot of good advice in this thread about race strategy and I can't wait to put some of it into action.
My question is: what is a good training set/strategy/programme to reduce the differences in split times?
Syd you are swimming meters so do not set your goals on 3 seconds. You are doing about what you should be doing. Now you have to just get faster for the first 100 and carry it on to the second 100.
I have always considered myself a sprinter but recently I have been really enjoying doing 200's in practice. I want to have a crack at it this year in competition. Having read through this thread though, I think my splits are way off.
Today I did a set of 5 x 200 (SCM) at 3:30, descending. On the first I went 2:29, then 2:26, 2:23, 2:20 and the last I did in 2:17. I hardly ever take my splits but today I did for the last two. I split the second last 1:08/1:12 and the last 1:06/1:11.
After reading GoodSmith's comment that you shouldn't have more than a 3 second difference between your first and second hundred I realise I have a way to go.
There is a lot of good advice in this thread about race strategy and I can't wait to put some of it into action.
My question is: what is a good training set/strategy/programme to reduce the differences in split times?
